Photography by Michelle Slatalla.
(You can’t help making a mental list if you visit heiress Doris Duke’s spectacular Shangi La estate in Honolulu.).
1: If your doting father died when you were 12 years old in 1925 and left you one of the world’s great fortunes, you can buy an Oahu property with a 4.5-acre beachfront simply because it catches your fancy on your honeymoon.
Duke was introduced to and captivated by Persian art and culture while touring the Middle East on her honeymoon, a trip that proved an inspiration for her Honolulu house, designed by architect Marion Sims Wyeth in a style best described as eclectic heiress.
Not visible from the street, Shangri La nowadays is at the edge of a suburban neighborhood that grew up around it in the decades that followed its construction.
Now called the Shangri La Islamic Center for Arts and Cultures, the property is owned by a foundation funded by Duke’s estate (she died in 1993).
An enormous Chinese banyan tree planted in the entry courtyard in 1937 welcomes minivans of tourists. The low-slung single-story house has a deceptively simple white facade.
An open-air courtyard is the heart of the house. In the courtyard mirror-panel columns reflect sunlight.
“The primary aesthetic in the courtyard is Persian, and the majority of its architecture and tile work can be traced to Doris Duke and her husband James Cromwell’s visit to Iran in 1938,” notes the foundation.
Hanging copper alloy lamps light the space at night. After World War II ended, Duke flew in 1946 by Pan American Clipper to Oahu for her first visit in more than five years to continue work on the house and garden.
A tiled lanai off the back of the house is reached through the dining room (which is decorated in a style Miss Duke meant to invoke a Persian tent).
Looking south from the tiled lanai.
A side garden, accessible from the lanai, offers a glimpse of the next-door neighbors’ house.
Fuchsia is the predominant color (other than green) in evidence in the garden.
Seen from above, a private open-air hallway leading to Duke’s bedroom wing.
Low-profile outdoor lighting blends into the surroundings.
Outside Duke’s bedroom is a settee from which one can listen to the manmade waterfall installed against a courtyard wall.
The waterfall empties into a koi pond.
The 280-foot-long water channel in the Mughal Garden led, at one time, to an enormous bamboo birdcage filled with parrots.
The entry to the Mughal Garden gives no hint of the grandeur beyond the door.